MASQUERADE | Vermeir & Heiremans
The 25.10.19 at 5,30pm Kunstverein presents “Masquerade” | Vermeir & Heiremans in the frame of ARTE MAGIA E CAPITALISMO, organized by Carico Massimo
MASQUERADE borrows its title and structure from Herman Melville's novel, The Confidence Man – His Masquerade. The film is situated in the worlds of 'high finance' and the 'global art markets'. In MASQUERADE a TV-reporter is telling the story of the protested 'initial public offering' (IPO) of Art House Index. The index proposes the transformation of Vermeir & Heiremans' home, which in their practice they define as an artwork, into a financial instrument. This instrument potentially renders a product that is difficult to trade, like a house or art, into a tool of measurement that is transparent for investors.
While the reporter is addressing the camera, what appears to be a reconstruction of the IPO, is taking place in the background. But then it all starts going wrong again! Is the audience witnessing an insider-sales in an auction house, a market crash in a trading pit or is it a hearing in a courtroom, one that tries to unveil the intricate dynamics of a confidence game? The whole situation transforms into an abstracted visual landscape of opinions and tastes. After all, art, like finance, is a system of belief and their markets are where this belief is put to work.
Masquerade
Country: Belgium / Genre: Short fiction-documentary / Duration: 51' / Production year: 2015
Language: English / Subtitling: English, Japanese / Image: HDV / Color / Ratio: 16:9 / Sound: Stereo / Available in installation version and single channel version.
Production: LIMITED EDITIONS vzw
Executive production: JUBILEE vzw
Co-production: Auctioneers Bernaerts (Antwerp), 4th Dojima River Biennale (Osaka), Goldsmiths, University of London, 13th Istanbul Biennial, Musea Brugge, Stroom Den Haag, Triennale Brugge 2015, V2_Institute for the Unstable Media (Rotterdam)
Supported by Flemish Audiovisual Fund (VAF) and the Flemish Community